After assuming leadership of UNDP last year one of the activities that I was most impressed by was the tremendous work United Nations Volunteers was doing in East Timor. It certainly provided a powerful example of the organization's ability to make an invaluable contribution to peace and development in the most difficult circumstances. In record time, UNV fielded a competent group of 500 professionals to prepare the ballot. We are proud of this superb performance for the people of East Timor, who had waited so long to chart their own course. UN Volunteers lived amongst the people and shared a piece of their turbulent history. In the wake of the vote, many volunteers returned to help build a new nation.

There will be more UNV missions of the East Timor magnitude. There have been and will continue to be smaller contingents of UN Volunteers going out and making their mark. Common to all is the strong bond they forge with the people. UN Volunteers meet people's needs, protect their rights, help give them a voice. They intervene not only with their hands and minds, but also with their hearts. In doing so, they go beyond providing services. They inspire change: in villages, in major cities -- in civil society.

Civil society is all about people bringing about change, often as volunteers. It's about their hopes, their aspirations and their strengths in overcoming weaknesses. UN Volunteers share these aspirations where they live and work. I see UNV's position in the international development community as a key link to civil society. We need new partnerships with organizations at the front line. UNV can certainly make its influence felt here. Missions like East Timor demonstrate that UNV is an indispensable part of the international system and a partner for the people at the local level. It is in the communities that UNVs team up with local volunteers -- the backbone of civil society -- to help realize new initiatives making headway in the fight against poverty. We in the larger development sphere have much to gain from the UNV experience.

And these notable achievements at the grassroots support the efforts to promote volunteerism globally. During my visit to the Bonn headquarters in mid-1999, I was encouraged to learn about UNV's many activities as focal point of the International Year of Volunteers 2001. Linking up with volunteers all over the world, this year will root UNV even firmer in civil society. UNV is also a strong supporter of the NetAid web site, UNDP's major online effort to raise funds and public awareness to combat poverty. Venturing into cyberspace, UNV has embarked on the promising concept of "online volunteering". It paves the way for would-be volunteers to contribute to development right from their computers at home, as database experts, graphic artists, human rights advocates, attorneys, translators. With this initiative, UNV mobilizes a new generation of volunteers, gifted and motivated as ever and ready to meet upcoming challenges with the means provided in the 21st century - during the International Year of Volunteers 2001 and beyond.

Mark Malloch Brown

A Message from the Executive Coordinator

UNV has completed another milestone year. During 1999 the number of volunteers topped 4,000 for the first time. And what is more significant is that these professionals came from 149 countries, with some 65 per cent from the developing world. Indeed, UNV's defining feature and greatest asset is its universality. It provides an opportunity to construct new relationships amongst nations; the donor-recipient distinction that has thus far been the dominant, seemingly inevitable feature of development cooperation, is rendered irrelevant in this active expression of international solidarity.

Imagine the complex beauty of a tapestry. Interwoven strands of colour form a rich design and penetrating piece of art -- a beautiful whole. This tapestry came to life during UNV's Global Workshop in May 1999. There we saw the blending of cultures, races and experiences as all UNV Programme Officers and Administrative Assistants from 70 countries and headquarters staff met for the first time to discuss plans for our common future. As ideas and suggestions flowed freely, we wove a startling new vision: UNV will never be the same.

We present a vivid impression of UNV's multinational tapestry in this Annual Report. We draw on our diversity of origins, experiences and qualifications to find the right people for the job at hand. In the case of Kosovo, for example, we require the expertise and neutrality that international UNV specialists bring to such sensitive operations. In Mali, national UNV field workers who have an intimate understanding of the local scene take up assignments helping women develop skills to run a business or to create a safe and sanitary home environment for their families. We dispatch a seasoned manager on short-term missions to advise Kazakhstan's Government and private sector on ways to collaborate for development. These varied strands make up the fibre strengthening UNV's global impact.

Our expansive tapestry could never stretch across continents without our partners among the UN agencies, governments and non-governmental organizations. And in 1999, UNV's circle of friends widened even further. As the UN-designated focal point for the International Year of Volunteers 2001, we are opening up new partnerships with both domestic and international volunteer organizations. With the generous support of the Japanese, French and Canadian Governments and the City of Lausanne, Switzerland, a small, dedicated team started using the Internet and other tools in a massive campaign to spread and share information about the year. I have personally taken the message to key international conferences. In the run up to the year 2001, we are drawing in our traditional partners and newer friends in an expanding network to put the promotion of volunteerism on the global agenda. All of us are bound by a common thread -- a belief in human development of the kind volunteers can achieve. Join with us in weaving this glorious volunteer tapestry.

Sharon Capeling-Alakija